EIGHT WAYS I WOULD REDEEM CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS® POINTS
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (CSP) is one of the most popular cards in the miles and points world. And for good reason. With multiple travel transfer partners, this card has something for everyone. The CSP earns points that are transferable. That means that you can transfer points to multiple airlines and hotels. Unlike points you earn from a hotel or airline credit card that cannot be transferred.
HOW TO EARN CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS POINTS
Despite all the hype around the Chase Sapphire card, it is not the only card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. That’s good for us, because it means we have many options to earn a ton of Chase points.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card - Depending on your travel style and needs, this is the first card I recommend to all beginners. It has a generous welcome bonus, multiple travel transfer partners like Southwest, British Airways, United and Hyatt. This should be one of the first five cards you get.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® - If you value premium perks like airport lounge access, I recommend this card over the Sapphire Preferred above. Because this is a premium card that comes with perks like Priority Pass Membership (which means access to over 1,400 airport lounges around the world) the annual fee is $550.
To help offset the annual fee, you get a $300 statement credit for any travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ (I would use it to book a hotel or rental car) plus a $100 statement credit for purchasing TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or NEXUS (for anyone) which brings the annual fee $150.
Please note: You can only hold one Sapphire card at a time
Chase Freedom Flex℠ - Offers $150 cash back (or 15,000 Ultimate Rewards points) after you spend $500 in the first three months. This card earns 5x points on rotating categories (ranging from Walmart, Target and Amazon) and 3x points on dining and drugstore purchases. With no annual fee, this is the Chase Trifecta workhorse and the card I earn most of my Chase points with. And, good news, it has no annual fee!
Chase Freedom Unlimited® - This card earns 1.5x on ALL purchases and an additional 1.5x points for the first year. No annual fee.
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card - There are three Chase Ink business cards, all with very generous sign-up bonuses. Applying for business cards is a great way to earn a lot of points while keeping you under 5/24. Avoid the Chase Ink Business Premier® as those points do not transfer to travel partners.
CHASE TRAVEL TRANSFER PARTNERS
Chase has some of my favorite travel transfer partners, like United, Air Canada (to book flights on Star Alliance partners United, Swiss Air, Lufthansa), Southwest and Emirates.
AIRLINES
Aer Lingus - can transfer Avios between Iberia, BA, Qatar
Air Canada (Star Alliance partner: can book flights on United, Emirates, Swiss Air, TAP, Turkish Airlines, etc.)
Air France/KLM - Flying Blue - (SkyTeam partner: can book flights on Delta, Virgin, etc.)
British Airways - One World Partner: can book flights on Iberia, Qatar, AA, Qantas, Japan Airlines, etc.)
Emirates
Iberia
JetBlue - can book flights on AA
Singapore Airlines
Southwest Airlines - New! Partnership with Iceland Air
United Airlines - Star Alliance partner
Virgin Atlantic - can book flights on Delta, Air France and KLM
HOTELS
Hyatt
IHG
Marriott
HOW I WOULD REDEEM ULTIMATE REWARDS POINTS FOR FLIGHTS
FLY TO EUROPE FOR JUST 15K POINTS EACH WAY: Even though the taxes and fees are a little higher than when booking on United or American, it’s possible to book a flight to Europe for as little as 12k points one way in economy by transferring your Chase points to Air France/Flying Blue. That means one 60,000 sign up bonus is enough to book two roundtrip flights to Europe. That’s pretty amazing. If you and your Player 2 get the card, you’ll have enough points for 4 roundtrip flights.
How to Book: Log into your account on Air France and search for flights with Points. Once you find award availability, you can log into your Chase account and transfer points to your Flying Blue Account.
You can read my step by step guide on how to book a flight to Europe on Air France here
FLY DELTA ONE FIRST CLASS INTERNATIONAL FOR JUST 50K POINTS ONE WAY: Update: Virgin has devalued this deal in July 2024. There are now adding fees over $1,000. This is possibly one of the best deals in the miles and points world. Being able to fly First Class International, a flight that costs over $2,000 one way for just 50,000 points is amazing! The key is that you are booking this flight on Virgin Atlantic but you’re flying Delta. If you were to book this flight on Delta, it would cost you over 300k points!
How to Book: Log into Virgin Atlantic. Some routes to search include: NYC to AMS/FRA, DTW to AMS/CDG, ATL to CDG/AMS, BOS to AMS/LHR
EMIRATES BUSINESS CLASS FOR 87k POINTS: Have you ever seen the photos of people standing behind a bar in the big double decker plane? This is the flight! For just 87k Chase Ultimate Rewards points you can travel in a lay flat seat and hang out in the bar at 40k feet! See how we booked this flight in this post here.
How to Book: Go to Emirates.com. Log in. Search for flights after clicking “View with Classic Rewards”. You’ll want to search the following routes: EWR-ATH or JFK-MXP, once you find award flights, you can log into your Chase account and transfer points to Emirates. Transfers are instant. Once you return to the Emirates site you should be able to book your flight.
You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United airlines to fly to Europe for just 30k points
ASIA AND EUROPE FOR 34K POINTS ONE WAY: While this isn’t the lowest points option you’ll find; it will have the lowest fees compared to other travel partners. A flight from the U.S. to Europe should run around 34k points and under $10 to most cities on United and flights to Asia just a few points more. Flights in economy are super easy to find and book compared to flights on Business Class.
How to Book: Go to United.com. Search for flights with miles. I always search for flights one way at a time versus roundtrip, then piece them together. Once you find award availability, you can transfer points from your Chase account to United.
HAWAII FOR JUST 26K POINTS ROUND TRIP: British Airways has a distance-based award chart making flights to Hawaii from the West Coast just 26k points round trip. Create a loyalty account with British Airways, then search from cities on the West Coast to Hawaii. You’ll book on British Airway, but you’ll be flying on American or Alaska Airlines.
Transfer Chase points to Iberia to fly business class one way to Madrid!
IBERIA BUSINESS CLASS FOR 34K POINTS EACH WAY: This may be the cheapest business class award seat out there. The catch is that there are only certain routes that you can find for this price and they must fall on Iberia’s ‘off-peak’ dates (you can find the calendar here). Please note that your Iberia account must be open for at least 90 days before you can transfer points into it. So, go create that account now so you can book this in 90 days.
How to Book: You will search on Iberia.com (you must create an account first). Search for the following routes only: NYC, BOS, IAD OR ORD to MAD (Madrid). Once you find award availability, you can then transfer points from your Chase account to Iberia to book. Don’t want to go to Madrid? Intra-Europe flights are very inexpensive! Just book a cheap flight to a connecting city once you arrive. Pro-Tip: I’ve been seeing the 34k business class flights from Mexico City - so if you don’t mind repositioning, this may help you find availability.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: Southwest Airlines is a family favorite because of the very flexible booking rules, no cancellation fees and free checked bags. I can book a flight on Southwest for as low as 6,000 points if I book early enough and there is never any risk for booking as I can cancel anytime. Now, if I could just pick out my own seat!
How to Book: Go to Southwest.com, enter your departure/arrival cities and select “Book with Points”. I prefer to search the Low Fare Calendar on the desktop views. As always, ensure award availability prior to transferring points.
Learn how to get “Two for One” flights on Southwest Airlines for two years here.
HOW I WOULD REDEEM CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS POINTS FOR HOTELS
You can stay at my favorite Paris hotel for just 18k points a night transferred from your Chase Sapphire to Hyatt
HYATT: My favorite Chase hotel transfer partner is Hyatt. Hands down. With award nights starting at just 5,000 points a night for a Category 1 and luxury Hyatt nights starting at 35,000 points a night, this is one of the greatest values you can get with your Chase points. You can book an all-inclusive resort in Mexico for 25k Hyatt points a night or a $1,000 a night room in Paris for 35k points a night. We recently booked four nights in Hawaii at a resort that books for over $750 a night. We paid just 30k points a night.
Pro Tip: While IHG and Marriott are both Chase transfer partners, they are not a good value due to the high number of points required to book a room per night. I would only transfer to these hotels if I needed a couple thousand points to top off a free night award.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Create a loyalty account with each hotel and airline program. In many cases, you must be logged into your account to search for award flights. Take the time to create your reward accounts now to save time later! It’s completely free.
Always make sure that you find award availability before you transfer Chase points to a travel partner. Transfers are one way, you cannot get them back in your Chase account once you transfer them out.
Combine your points. One of the best features of Chase Ultimate Rewards is the availability to combine your points with your Player Two as long as they reside in the same household. This is huge. If you want to book four flights together, you can first combine your points (you can do this online or call Chase) and then transfer all the points to the travel partner. There is no fee to do this.
Trip Protection: When you pay the taxes and fees for your award flight with your Chase Sapphire (even if it’s only $5.00), you’ll receive the trip delay/cancellation and baggage delay insurance that comes as a perk of your credit card.
Happy Travels!
Learn how to book your first (nearly) free flight with Chase points here!
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Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
